Cancer is characterized by the uncontrolled growth of cells in the body, leading to the invasion of essential organs and often death. Initially, the pharmacological treatment of cancer utilized non-specific cytotoxic agents that targeted all rapidly dividing cells, including normal cells. These non-specific cytotoxic agents have anti-tumor effects but their use is often limited by severe toxicities. As the understanding of the proteins and pathways that enable cancer cells to thrive has evolved, newer more targeted agents have been developed that block specific proteins that are activated in cancer cells.
An emerging field for the development of therapeutics that addresses the challenges presented in treating cancers is immune-oncology, also referred to as tumor immunology. Certain tumor types have developed mechanisms to escape destruction by the body's immune system. Tumor immunology is a therapeutic area focused on activating the body's own immune system to attack and kill tumors. The naturally occurring amino acid arginine is implicated in tumor immunology, as it is important for the activation, growth, and survival of a body's cancer-fighting cytotoxic T-cells. However, levels of arginine are depleted in the tumor microenvironment by arginase, an enzyme produced and secreted by myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) that accumulate in cancer patients of multiple histotypes. In fact, elevated levels of arginase enzyme have been observed in the plasma of renal cell carcinoma, breast cancer, chronic myelogenous leukemia, esophageal cancer, prostate cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, glioblastoma, and acute myeloid leukemia patients. Therefore, there is a need to develop inhibitors of arginase that restore arginine levels in the tumor microenvironment, therefore promoting the tumor-killing activity of cytotoxic T-cells.